Goldbrier Academy For Young Ladies
By The Captain
Ancient Secrets Live In North Carolina


Kent slowed down again, the relentless rain making it difficult to follow the
two-lane road. The lights from the school bus ahead of him were barely visible
through the downpour. Once again he cursed his string of bad luck. His wife
had left him and divorced him while he was out of the country on his last Navy
deployment. All of the job offers he had gotten while he was being discharged
had vanished. And now he was lost, somewhere in North Carolina, down to a half
tank of gas and twenty bucks in his wallet. He felt his battered Nissan Sentra
slide as the wind picked up.

He suddenly noticed that something was different ahead of him. The school bus
had stopped in the middle of the road. As he slowed down a flash of lightning
showed him was had actually happened. The school bus had crashed into the back
of some kind of tanker truck. Kent stopped and got out of his car. From the
smell he realized that the bus had crashed into a gasoline tanker. An orange
flicker from the front of the bus told him that time was short. Kent climbed
onto the back of the bus and forced open the emergency door. As he stepped
into the bus he saw rows of uniform-clad girls slowly turn to face him. "Come
on!" he shouted, "This is an emergency! You've got to get off the bus!"

For a moment the girls simply sat there and looked at him. Kent was about to
yell at them again when they all stood up and started to move towards the back
exit. He stepped aside as the mass of young girls flowed out of the bus and
onto the wet grass at the edge of the row. After the last girl as passed, he
moved towards the front of the bus to find the driver. She was a chunky blond
who seemed much heavier that she should be, but Kent managed to drag her to
the back of the bus. Several of the girl were waiting for him to lower the
driver down. They seemed to be able to carry the woman with ease, so Kent
figured that hunger was making him weak. He caught an orange and yellow glow
build up behind him, but before he could climb down from the bus he found
himself flying over his car and into the woods. Darkness consumed him.

By the time the Sheriff arrived the scene was under control. Emergency crews
had put out what remained of the fire and taken the body of the tanker driver
away. Tow trucks were coming to haul away what was left of the three vehicles.
It was too bad that the man who had saved all of the children had lost
everything. The bus had turned into a giant flame thrower which had totally
destroyed the Sentra and all of the contents. The children and the bus driver
were being brought to the local girls school, it had a small but modern
medical facility. The only loose end was the hero of the story, and that's
where things were getting a little odd.

"You want to do what? But I thought that Goldbrier Academy had a strict
no-male policy?" asked Sheriff Parker.

The tall woman who looked like a school teacher all dressed in gray replied,
"You are correct, but this situation is unique in our history. Never before
has a man saved over sixty of our students at the risk of his own life.
Because he stopped to help the children he has lost everything. I have been in
direct contact with the Board of Regents. We will tend to his wounds and
assist him in restarting his life. For the moment Mr. Larson is a guest of
Goldbrier Academy for Young Ladies."

Kent woke up to discover pain -everywhere. For several minutes he lay
motionless, feeling the waves of pain wash over him. After a while the pain
faded slightly and he began to notice details of his surroundings. He was on a
bed, between stiff white sheets, listening to the rain slam against a small
frosted window. The room looked like a hospital room in a 1950's movie, above
the glass and wood door was a old-style shield-and-owl logo engraved with the
name Goldbier. On a side table he could see his clothes neatly folded as if
they had been washed and pressed. Under the sheets he was totally naked. For
the moment he was alone, so he slid out of the bed and onto the cold tile
floor. He dressed as quickly as he could, though his arms and legs screamed
every time he made contact with any of the furniture.

He had just finished wrestling his shoes on when the door opened and a tall
woman dressed as a nurse walked in. "Excellent Mr. Larson! I see that you've
returned to us at last. We were becoming a little worried about you.
Thankfully your injuries were minor considering what you went through on our
behalf. My name is Jessica and I'd like to welcome you to Goldbrier!"

Kent watched a group of girls walk past the nurse, they carried large stacks
of books and wore the same uniforms as the girls on the bus had. "I'm at some
kind of girls school, aren't I? Did you have them tow my car here? If you can
give me directions I'll be on my way. I'm sure that you're not comfortable
having a bum like me around. If you give me an address I promise to repay you
for the medical care as soon as I get my next paycheck."

The nurse was about to answer when a taller woman walked in. She wore her long
blond hair pulled back tight and was dressed in a gray business suit which
managed to hide what few curves she had. "Good morning Mr. Larson, or may I
call you Kent? My name is Ludmilla Kuntz and I am the director of this
facility. You have provided us with a most interesting problem. While we have
a strict code of not allowing men to enter the campus grounds, we couldn't
leave you bleeding in a pile of mud by the side of the road. Could we? No, you
removed that option when you saved the lives of sixty-four of our students
along with one of our most popular drivers. The fact that your vehicle and all
that you owned were destroyed by the fire only increases the pressure for us
to do something. We owe you a great debt, and we pay our debts."

The director motioned for the nurse to leave them. Ludmilla closed the door
and sat down in one of the narrow wooden chairs. "We have been doing some
research into your past and know that you are unqualified for normal civilian
employment. For you that has become a bitter disappointment. However, your
rather odd skill set and temperament makes you an outstanding candidate for
employment here. The ban would not apply to you if you were staff. You are
free to walk around and explore Goldbrier today. But I must insist on your
answer before nightfall!" Ludmilla stood up and gracefully marched out of the
door before Kent could say a word.

Kent slowly walked down the hallway, all around him were all of the signs that
this was a very exclusive girls school. All of the facilities looked first
rate, the classrooms were large and well-equipped, the library was much larger
than he had expected, the science labs looked like they belonged in a
university, even the gym looked like a combination of health-club and NFL
training facility. From one map he noticed that they even had a large indoor
shooting range in the basement of the main building. The nearly eight-hundred
female students, ranging in age from seven to nineteen, were served by an
all-female staff of over a hundred. And they wanted to hire him?

He hadn't spent a lot of time around the children of wealthy people, but he
figured that a seven-year-old girl would be noisy and uncontrolled no matter
how much money daddy had. But the students at Goldbrier were - different -
they were as controlled and polite as any adult. The older students seemed
more finished, and acted like the teenagers he knew they were. Eventually he
found himself on a set of bleachers, watching a large class of students learn
how to toss the javelin. He was amazed, most could throw the double-ended
spear two to three times farther then he felt he could. He suddenly noticed
that two of the older students had come up to him.

"What are you doing here? No men are allowed at Goldbrier! We'll have to ask
you to leave! Now!" commanded one of the students. Kent saw that she was
dressed in an athletic uniform that revealed her arms and legs. From the
amount of muscle that rippled along her body, Kent was sure that she could
easily overpower him with ease. The other girl moved to block his exit. She
was as athletic looking as her friend, though Kent noticed she had much larger
breasts.

Before Kent could stand up of say anything two younger students walked up to
the bleacher. "This is Kent Larson." one of the smaller girl said as they
walked by. The attitude of the older girls changed in an instant. "We're so
sorry sir! We didn't know! If you wish, we will report for punishment detail.
Or you may assign any punishment you deem appropriate!"

Kent got off of the bleacher and walked over to the two girls. They stood next
to each other, waiting for his commands. "Attention!" he barked. The two girls
stood straight with shoulders back. "How old are you girls?" he asked. the
student nearest to him answered, "We are both nineteen, sir!" Kent took a good
look at the two girls, walking around them as if they were on inspection. The
girls were nearly as tall as he was and very healthy. Perhaps too healthy. "Do
you two lift weights?" he asked. "Yes sir, a minimum of one hour a day, every
day for the last twelve years!"

He stepped back in shock, "You've been lifting weights since you were seven?
Damm! And I couldn't talk my ex- wife into lifting a couple of ten-pound
dumb-bells for five minutes. How much can you lift?"

"We're not all that strong! I can only curl fifty pounds, but Kelly here can
use a sixty-pound dumb-bell. There are some girls in the sixth-grade class who
can curl a lot more than we can. I think that the school record for a
dumb-bell curl is one-ninety. Please sir, what is our punishment for showing
disrespect?"

"Do I have to punish you? Can't I just give you a warning or something?" Kent
asked.

The shorted girl answered, "No sir! While we wear the Goldbrier uniform we
must act with honor at all times!"

He glanced at the aluminum bleachers, "Are the two of you strong enough to
lift that off the ground?"

The two girls smiled, "That would be easy if we both lifted!"

"OK, your punishment will be to lift up one end of this set of bleachers one
hundred times while I sit on it and watch you. Every time you lift it up you
must say to me ‘Goldbrier Girls Are Strong!', do you understand? Let's begin!"

It took the girls nearly five minutes to complete the punishment, their arms
became pumped and glistened with sweat as they strained at the end. When they
had finished he sent them to the showers to clean up. Kent sat on the
bleachers as he tried to understand what had just happened. What kind of
school was Goldbrier? In some ways it was more like a military training camp
than a simple girls school.

He heard someone walk up. "Hello, you must be Kent! My name's Amanda, I teach
advanced physical training for the higher grades. That was very impressive for
an off-the-cuff punishment drill. We could hear the girls screaming clear
across the field. But then, I understand that you are ex-military. Perhaps I
was wrong, you handled yourself well and operated within our rules. But please
try to remember that the Goldbrier staff are much stronger than the students!"
With that she lifted up the end of the bleacher that he was sitting on with
one hand. She smiled as Kent stared at the hard muscular bicep that exploded
from her darkly tanned arm.

Two hours later Kent found himself inside of Ludmilla's office. The many rows
of thick books muffled the outside sounds, allowing him to hear every creak of
wood and rustle of paper as she prepared the paperwork. "I understand that you
have been making points with the students and staff. You must understand that
your every work and action will be observed while you are on this campus. I
hope that this does not make you uncomfortable. Outside of family and
contractors, you will be one of the few men our students will interact with.
As our only male staff member you will be required to follow a strict code of
honor. Do you understand?"

"Oh, sure! Don't worry, I'll stay away from the students! I can see where that
would cause big problems!"

"I'm not sure that I understand you Kent. Our code requires that you treat all
of our students with equality. I expect you to act as a close friend to any
student that you encounter, we are family here at Goldbrier Academy. Now, I
understand that as a healthy male you will have certain - requirements - that
we have not had to fulfill before. But we pride ourselves at being adaptable.
I would like you to consider the students as being off-limits for certain
activities, but you will be pleased to know that several of the staff have
expressed interest in social interaction."

Kent laughed, "Would one of those women be a instructor named Amanda?"

Ludmilla looked up at Kent and replied, "I understand that you met. Yes, she
came to my office an hour ago to withdraw her protest. You see, when we first
announced that we were thinking of hiring you she was extremely vocal in her
arguments against you. There was something that you did, or didn't do that
changed her mind. Congratulations. I've know her as a very stubborn woman. No
then, on to other business. We will provide you with a small advance on your
first pay check tomorrow so that you may go into town and purchase more
suitable clothing. Tonight you will sleep in the medical wing but we will
provide you private quarters away from the student and staff facilities."

"That sounds great, but I'm sorry to ask, what exactly is my job? What do you
want me to do?"

"Oh, how silly of me!" laughed Ludmilla, "You are our resident hero! Will
start your training after you are settled in."

Kent was surprised at how green the land was now that the rain had stopped and
the sun had broken through the clouds. He sat in the back of the small school
van with several of the older students. They were friendly, though their
interest in him had an odd intensity to it. The driver was the same husky
blond he had rescued from the burning bus. Though Kathy looked a little older
than Kent, he was sure that she would gladly break down a door or two if he
asked. Though he wasn't in "uniform" he was clearly being treated as part of
the Goldbrier family.

The turnoff to Pelican Grove was well hidden, Kent was sure he would have
passed it. Thankfully Kathy knew exactly where she was going and parked near
the center of the small town ten minutes later. The town looked nice and
clean, though Kent thought there were so many women with visible muscles that
it looked like a training camp for female athletes. Thankfully half of the
population consisted of very happy men. The men's clothing store was a short
walk from the van and for some reason two of the students insisted on staying
with him. It wasn't until he was in the changing booth that he was finally
alone.

But that didn't stay true for very long. Without warning a large man in a
police uniform walked into the small booth. "Mr. Larson, I'm Sheriff Parker.
I'm sorry about the intrusion but I won't have much time. I understand that
you've been hired by the Goldbrier Academy as some kind of security expert.
Now, we keep our distance from that school, they seem to have a lot of friends
in high office. But if I hear that you are running some kind of scam on these
ladies there will be hell to pay. Do we understand each other?"

From outside the booth came the sound of a door being forced open. The Sheriff
turned and walked out of the booth. After a moment Kent heard one of the
students say, "Sorry about the door, looks like it got stuck or something! You
can send the school the bill, OK?" As he moved back into the front of the
store Kent looked down at the broken door lock that lay on the floor. It
almost looked like the door knob had been crushed.

Thirty minutes later they had returned to the school van. The students
insisted of carrying the suits he had bought. When Kent walked up to the van
he knew something was wrong. One of the students was missing and Kathy was
crying into her cell phone. "I don't know if it was Black Flag, we never saw
who attacked her! We contacted the sheriff office, but no body has reported
any vehicles leaving town in the last hour! What do you want me to do? OK,
he's here." Kathy hung up the phone and brought out a small black case.

"You were supposed to get some training, but there's no time!" she opened the
case and held it out to Kent. Inside was a small black pistol and two clips of
odd-looking ammo, "These are EF rounds, they'll drop a man by stunning him but
won't punch holes in walls. They are standard issue for field agents. Your
service record says that you earned a marksman ribbon with a forty-five. I
think you'll find these a little easier to handle!" Kent took the pistol,
loaded one clip and put the other in his pocket. "The girls were with me at
the back of the book store when we heard the attack. They were gone by the
time we got there. No body reports seeing a vehicle leave the area."

"OK," said Kent, "That just means that they didn't use a vehicle. Is there any
thing new to the area? Any new stores or construction?"

"Hey! They're putting in a pizza place right next to the book store," remarked
one of the female students, "The sign says something about volcano style
pizza! But there's nothing there now but stacks of bricks and stuff. I think
they're putting in a large brick oven!"

Moments later Kent was sniffing around several large piles of building
material. All were covered with thick plastic tarps to protect them from the
rain. But one of the piles seemed a little off, the plastic was flapping more
in the wind than the others. He pulled out his short-bladed K-Bar, one of the
last remaining objects from his prior life, and sliced open the flapping tarp.
Kent was not surprised to see that the pile had been hiding a narrow ramp that
led down underground. He pulled out the pistol and started to carefully make
his way down the ramp.

In the dimly lit basement Kent could make out several large thugs standing
around the missing student. Her mouth was gagged and her arms and legs were
bound with thick steel cables. Even in the dim light Kent could see the
powerful bulges that grew from the students arms and legs as she struggled to
be free. The six thugs were armed with small machine guns and were under the
command of a tiny oriental woman who was wearing black leather body-suit. The
student seemed to freeze in terror as the oriental woman pulled out a large
injector. That was Kent's cue.

He had always been a pretty fair shot, which was strange because he had never
owned a gun as a kid, and the short range more than made up for the poor
lighting. Six shots later and all of the thugs were on the ground, the high-
powered electrical rounds making them spasm in pain on the basement floor. The
oriental woman screamed and leaped towards him. By instinct Kent fired the
last four rounds directly at her head. The first two hits didn't seem to
effect her, but the third dropped her down in front of him. Moments later
Kathy bashed down the thick wooden door, just as he had asked to.

Kathy was followed by the three other students, Sheriff Parker and four of his
deputies. Sheriff Parker looked at Kent, saw the student bound to the wall,
saw the six thugs and their sub-machine guns. he walked over to the oriental
woman and kicked the injector away from her hands. "Better put you weapon away
Mr. Larson, we don't want the civilians getting confused. I apologize for our
earlier encounter. Seems that you may be exactly what the ladies were looking
for. We'll clean up here. Oh, and welcome to Pelican Grove!"

On the way back to the academy Lana, the student who had been captured by the
thugs, made it quite clear that she was more than willing to provide any form
of pleasure he desired. And from the shouted remarks from the other students,
he could enjoy the others in whatever combination suited him. Even Kathy made
it plain that she was available at any time he was ready for her. When they
arrived back at Goldbrier Kent was rushed to the director's office.

"Well done Kent! Or should I say Mr. Larson out of respect. Even without any
special training you managed to defeat seven armed opponents and rescue one of
our students. They are, you see, the most vulnerable when their education is
incomplete. In many ways they are very powerful, but they lack the focus that
adulthood brings. The board has reviewed the action report from today's little
adventure. They are very pleased with your actions. Now, go enjoy tonight, for
tomorrow you start your training."

As Kent walked out of the office he found himself surrounded by an orderly mob
of students and staff. Amanda, the physical trainer he had met the day before
walked up to him, "Before you make hundred of students break a large number of
rules, why don't I take you to dinner in the staff lounge? After all, you're
one of us now!" Walking down the hallway next to the slim but muscular
instructor, Kent kept wondering what strange life he had fallen into.

"You've got to be kidding me! How old are you?" Kent asked the small girl in
front of him.

Alone in the padded combat room, the young girl allowed herself to giggle,
"I'm eight! But I've been training for a year!"

"So, of I beat you then I get to work up to students who are more my size,
right?"

"Well, you couldn't handle any of us who were your size! They would be too
strong because of all the weight lifting we do. See?" The young girl held out
her arm and flexed her small bicep. Though she was still only eight-years-old,
a full year of special diet and exercise had build up her muscles beyond what
Kent thought was possible. He was surprised by the hardness. What kind of
training did they do here?

The little girl, who's name was Malinda, signaled that she was ready to
wrestle. Kent had been assigned to train with her for an hour, but even with
her impressive muscle, he couldn't see her lasting more than five minutes. He
smiled as they moved towards each other. Kent side-stepped, tripped her,
knocking her face down on the mat. He jumped on top of her for an easy pin but
was surprised when she strained to break free. For a moment he felt a burst of
power and ten Malinda grunted that she was defeated.

The next girl was nine-year-old Caroline. She didn't giggle and had much more
impressive muscles than Malinda. Kent tried the same trick, but had to
struggle for several minutes as Caroline burnt out her strength. Before she
shouted that she had given up she whispered that she was very happy to be his
wrestling partner and would be ready for a rematch anytime.

The schedule gave time for Kent to recover before he met his next opponent.
Ten-year-old Cindy was larger and much more muscular than the other girls.
Even her abs looked hard as a rock. For a moment she simply stood there, for
face revealing no emotions. Then she smiled, ran over and hugged him. "Oh! Mr.
Larson! You don't remember me, but I was one of the girls that you saved from
the bus! You saved my entire class and the entire sixth-grade class! And then
you rescued another student from those evil agents from Black Flag! You are my
hero!" He felt the hidden power of her embrace and knew she wasn't going to be
defeated by him today.

"Can you tell me who these Black Flag people are Cindy?" he asked.

She looked around the room, leaned close, and whispered, "We're not supposed
to talk about them outside of the classrooms, but I can't say no to you! I've
heard that they are an ancient religious organization that was founded during
the dark ages to take over the world. They have secret temples run by female
priests. I think you met one yesterday. I've heard that their greatest weapon
is a drug or chemical called Black Orchid that is used to give their female
assassins incredible strength and power. I think they have other drugs that do
things like control your mind, but I don't remember what they're called."

"But what does a girls school have to do with this? Are they after your
exercise program or something?"

"Oh, you don't know the Goldbrier story? Well, that's a really big secret, so
don't let anyone know! OK, there have been several Goldbrier Academies through
the years. The first one was in ancient Greece, and then they build one in
France and another in England. A couple hundred years ago they build one in
New York, but that one burned down, so they built this one! Most of our
mothers graduated from Goldbrier, so sending us here was natural. and the best
thing is that it's free!"

Kent suddenly realized that something about the Goldbrier operation seem
familiar. Children training hard from age seven to age nineteen. A system that
included special physical and combat training which made them legendary
warriors. "Tell me Cindy, do you remember which country in ancient Greece was
home to the first Goldbrier Academy?"

As Cindy leaned close to him he could feel her hard muscles press painfully
into his weaker ones. "It was Sparta!" she whispered.

As Kent had expected, he was no match for ten-year-old Cindy. The three years
of hard training had made her much too powerful for him to even slow down. She
had realized this and gone easy on him, making it a game more of a playful
game than a wrestling match. eventually, no matter how much she held herself
back from using her full strength, he ended up on the floor totally defeated.
Cindy then showed Kent that she was well trained in physical therapy. At the
end of the hour he was dead tired but nearly pain free.

Since he was allowed to wander the entire campus at will he visited the
library. Several hours later he found what he was looking for. The only
problem was, instead of a large door all that he could find was a nice blank
wall. And then his fingers buzzed. Years ago, while in the Navy, Kent had been
shocked by several thousand volts. Outside of finding his screwdriver stuck in
the ceiling, the only lasting effect was to gain a strange sensitivity to
ungrounded metal. Even the slightest difference in ground potential would be
enough to make his fingers buzz. What puzzled him now was that a hunk of brick
was acting like it was a piece of metal.

"Yeah, right! It can't be this easy!" he muttered to himself as he pushed on
the buzzing brick. Nothing seemed to happen until he remembered that
everything here was built for people much stronger than he was. He lifted a
heavy statue and slammed it into the brick. His reward was a soft click and a
slowly opening secret door. Putting the statue back he walked through the door
and down a series of steps. The chamber at the bottom of the narrow steps was
large enough to hold a small group and contained many artifacts inside of
glass display cases. It felt as if he had wandered the chamber for hours,
reading the many small signs and staring at the weapons and other ancient
artifacts. He almost didn't hear Ludmilla as she walked down the stairs.

She looked different than she had before when they had talked in her office.
her hair was pulled back tight and she wore a thick blue and gold robe. In her
hand was a short two-headed spear. he pointed at crude map of ancient Greece.
"The ancient Greeks reported that they had discovered a mighty tribe of women
warriors who they called Amazons! But it wasn't a separate tribe they had
discovered was it? No, they had found a band of Spartan women who had trained
their daughters in the same manner as Spartan males trained their sons. The
original name got translated into French or German and then English. And when
darkness ruled the world a spark of gold remained."

Ludmilla remained silent as she dropped the robe to the ground. Her body,
normally hidden by her strict business clothes, was a mass of dark cables of
muscular power. Kent could see her muscles inflate as she built up her power.
Any moment would be his last.

Kent sat down on a wooden bench, still tired from his play date with Cindy.
"Well, I guess I dug just a little too deep, didn't I? Can't have some random
guy wandering around knowing about your secret war with that death cult. It's
funny, I really thought for a moment that I was turning my life around! Do you
know why my ex-wife left me? It's because I'm obsessed with muscular women! I
want to feel muscular women! I want to watch them! I want to - love - them!
When she found out her reaction was almost violent. She laughed at me, told me
she was going to fine a real man. Guess in the end I'm just another loser. You
don't know me. I would take your secret to the grave! But how can you trust
any man, not with your history! Wait a second, let me move away from the wall.
You'll have less blood to clean up." Kent got off of the bench and sat down on
the floor.

"I feel so tired. Thank you. For a while it almost felt like home!" Kent
leaned his head back, giving Ludmilla a clear shot of his neck. she slowly
walked up to him, her muscles rippling with dangerous power. The spear came up
and pressed into his neck. Kent felt a slow trickle of blood moving down his
chest. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Good-bye, I'll miss you all!"

Suddenly a speaker clicked on and a female voice boomed out, "Enough! Bring
this man to us! The Council commands!"

Ludmilla pulled the spear away from Kent's neck and tossed it against the
wall. Without waning she reached down and picked him up as if he were a small
child. From his position he could only see Ludmilla's muscular back and hips,
but Kent felt her pass through a second secret door and march down a long
series of stone and metal stairs. His near brush with death had left him weak
and dizzy as Ludmilla carried him through a maze of underground passages. And
then he heard the screams.

Kent suddenly realized that he was no longer looking at Ludmilla's muscular
back. In fact, he was sitting on a padded bench in the center of a large
circular chamber. Seated around him on raised desks were twelve women wearing
pure-white robes. He couldn't tell from where he was sitting, but he was
certain that the weakest one could crush him like a grape. So, this was the
council. But why were they smiling at him? In fact one, who reminded Kent of a
tall Hooters girl, was clearly trying to send him signs that she was open for
a more - physical - greeting. he looked around and found no sign of Ludmilla.

"Greetings Mr. Larson. We rarely have a visitor of your gender in the
sanctuary, but you have earned this privilege. Our names are unimportant, we
do not act as individuals when we are within this chamber. We are surprised at
the ease with which you uncovered the first level of our secrets. Few of our
students find the entrance to the museum before they turn nineteen. Please do
not share what you have learned with the students when you return to your
duties."

"When I return? You're not going to kill me? But, Ludmilla had this spear! And
then I heard those screams!"

"Ah yes. The spear was a simple test to find your true spirit. Ludmilla
reports that she had great difficulty in performing her assigned part. She
said that when you opened yourself to her she nearly broke down and cried. We
were forced to act before shamed herself in your eyes. She is a very proud
woman who will require a gentile touch for some time. Please remember that.
The screams are from the cult leader that you captured. We have fought them
for many generations and have yet to find the secret of their Black Orchid
drug. Perhaps, as a special favor to the Council, you would like to try your
skills in extracting this information?"

The cell was small but well lighted. The oriental woman, now stripped of her
black leather body suit, was chained to the back wall. Thick metal bands
covered her forehead and waist while thick chains were attached to her wrists
and ankles. While it looked like overkill to hold such a small woman, Kent
remembered that it had taken three rounds to stun her while only one round was
required to drop the thugs who were many times her size. Three women wearing
blood-red robes watched him as he entered the cell.

"Hi! The - ah - council wanted me to give it a try! I have an idea, but I'm
going to need some soap and water, a bunch a clean towels, and the biggest
feather you can find!" The three women nodded and gracefully walked out of the
room. Kent could see their muscles flex even covered by the hick robes. As she
turned to face the dangerous prisoner her could feel the heat of her anger and
hatred. "Ha! I can tell that you are a weak man! Your strongest blows won't
cause me pain!" Kent nodded, "I know."

The three women returned with everything he had asked for, and then left him
alone with the oriental woman. The four-inch-thick metal door sealed behind
them. Without a word of explanation Kent slowly washed her, cleaning off all
of the dirt and blood which covered her. He started at her feet and moved up.
She strained and fought her bonds, certain that the pain from this new style
of torture would begin any moment. It was difficult for him to hide just how
much her flexing muscles were turning him on. By the time he reached her head
she understood that he was simply cleaning her and stopped fighting. He
realized that she was simply resting and would be ready to explode again at
any moment.

As she dried in the warm air Kent moved to the table and picked up the large
black feather. "This was the only way I could get my ex-wife to show off her
muscles. It would take me nearly an hour, but in the end she would flex for
me. She didn't have a fraction of the muscle any of you women have, but to me
she was an amazon! but then in the morning she would remember what I had
tricked her into doing and scream at me that I was sick to lust after strong
muscular women. eventually she left me, last I heard she married some guy in a
factory with biceps bigger than his brains."

"Now the Council wants me to try to get the secret of this Black Orchid from
you, but you and I both know that you're not going to tell me a thing. I can't
torture a woman, even one that would kill me in an instant. But I can do this!
The best I can hope for is that you'll flex for me a little so I can fantasize
about you later. In a way, I'm the one being tortured because no matter how
much I'll want those sexy muscles, I can have them. Shall we begin my torture
session."

The oriental woman looked confused and then smiled, "So, that is the way of
it! Do your worst, foolish man! In the end you will be screaming for my mercy!
I have more muscle control than a thousand of those fake amazon warriors!"
Kent walked up to the woman and lifted the feather.

It took over an hour, the Korean woman who called herself Kim Ryun Hui was
much more thick-headed than his ex- wife had been. But in the end she, after
nearly twenty orgasms, had turned into his willing muscle slave. Her muscle
control was amazing. The highlight had been when she had crushed a brick
between her small breasts by simply flexing her pectoral muscles. Kent knew
that she would revert back to her old self in the morning. But then his cell
phone had a great camera and plenty of extra memory. He smiled as the three
red-robed women had returned. Though Kim Hui had not said a word about Black
Orchid, he had learned the secret.

Kent was led back to the Council chamber. Again he was the center of
attention. "So, Mr. Larson, outside of a large amount of muscle porn, did you
actually gain any useful information that would help us discover Black
Orchid?"

"Well mam, I now know why you have failed to find any samples of Black Orchid.
It doesn't exist. Or I should say, it isn't a drug or chemical the cult
manufactures. That's a myth that they leaked out to fool you. Black Orchid
isn't something you take, it's something you do. These cult leaders are
trained to use their minds to trigger powerful surges of muscle strength. It's
like the stories of untrained women picking up cars to save their kids from
being crushed. Only in this case the women have a little physical training to
make them stronger than the average woman and they can trigger this burst
whenever they want to. Is that the information you were looking for?"

For several minutes the Council was silent. Suddenly one of the somber women
began to laugh and pound her desk with her fist. "That's it? We have tracked
the cult for generations, raided their temples, tortured their leaders. And
everything has been a hoax! Everything you say fits what little we do know. We
have been at war with them over a secret drug that does not even exist!"

"That's not quite totally true! You see, you have been hounding them for so
long about a drug that makes women stronger that they became convinced that
they once had such a drug and simply lost the formula. So, for the last
hundred years they have been trying to re-discover the lost formula. They
weren't trying to brain wash that student I rescued. They wanted a sample of
her blood for testing. My guess is that when they couldn't grab one of the
Goldbrier girls for a blood sample they moved on to some less guarded women
athletes. They won't call the new drug Black Orchid because that's the name of
their mind control system."

Suddenly an alarm filled the air. One of the council-women looked down at her
desk. "The prisoner has escaped somehow and is loose in the complex! It
appears that her physical strength has greatly increased and she broke free of
her bonds and overcame the three guards. Alert the security force that we need
to lock down the sanctuary at once! This is an emergency!"

Kent heard a low growl and turned to the side entrance. Kim Ryun Hui stood
there, sniffing the air like an animal. As she saw him she leaped across the
gap between them, bringing her face close to his. The strongest woman in the
room rubbed against him like a cat in heat. He turned to the stunned council
and asked, "She followed me home, can I keep her?

Kent looked at his watch, nearly six hours had passed since the squad of
heavily armed women had led him and Kim Hui to this maximum security holding
cell. The sink and metal toilet looked as if they had been carved from a
single block of steel. Thankfully the carpet was thickly padded as there were
no chairs or bunks. Three hours ago a slit in the wall had opened and a two
trays of food had been shoved inside. Kent smiled, at least Kim was no longer
acting like an animal in heat. She still acted a little - strange - around
him, which he considered a good thing as she was still stronger than he was
even without the additional power her muscle surge gave her.

"Well, here we are, in a secret underground base locked behind a foot thick
steel door. This isn't how I pictured I'd be spending my evening." Kent looked
up at Kim as she paced across the carpet, "It was nice of them to give you
some clothes!" The white shorts and skin-tight red muscle-shirt did little to
hide Kim's supple athletic body.

Kim spun around to face him, "YOU! What did you do to my mind? AAARGH! Even
now I feel my body desire you! And when I try to push my strength this lust
drives me to madness! I - MUST - resist! But - I want you! PLEASE - help me!"

Kent sighed and got up. As he walked over to Kim he could se tiny ripples of
muscle dance along her arms and legs as she tried to maintain control. "I'm
not sure, but I think that I may have accidentally changed how you body
responds to your advanced muscle control. Your - people - developed a mental
trigger which tapped into one of the most basic and powerful drives. Survival.
when I worked on you with the feather, using some tricks I read in an old
book, I mixed in another powerful drive."

"Sex!" she whispered as she pulled him close to her. without boots or shoes
Kim was at least four inches shorter than he was. Her advanced martial arts
training gave her the toned, athletic body of a national-rank gymnast. Kent
knew from experience that her flexibility and endurance were far beyond his.
In her own way Kim Ryun Hui was more than a match for any of the Goldbrier
students or staff. Until now only a small number of cult members were able to
use the Black Orchid process to trigger a surge of muscle power. But if the
secret drug was completed the death cult would have a thousand unstoppable
female assassins.

"Look Kim," he said as he ran his hands alone her hard muscular back,
"Everyone says that we should be enemies, but with your mind the way it is I
would feel bad if I abused the - control - I have on you. You're not a animal,
you don't have to perform for me!"

Kim leaned back and looked into his eyes, "I know a thousand ways to kill you.
Few men have gotten this close to me and lived. I have always be considered
-desirable - by all of the men I have met. You could command me with a word to
do - unspeakable - things for you. And I would do them joyfully. Your ex-wife
was a fool! It takes a real man to be able to enjoy a strong woman. Command
me!"

Without warning, all of the lights and ventilation fans died. even through the
thick walls of the cell they could hear explosions.

"Kim," Kent commanded, "Open the door!"

It had taken Kim nearly three minutes to muscle her way through the heavy cell
door. The inert locking system was simply warped by the muscular pressure
until the Kim burst through, making the multi-ton slab of metal crash to the
floor. The massive impact must have sent a shock wave for hundred of feet, but
in the darkness Kent could see nothing. In the distance they could hear the
sounds of desperate fighting. They blindly moved down the corridor, searching
for either light or an emergency exit. In the darkness Kent tripped over a
body and fell to the ground. Kim was instantly at his side as he groaning in
pain, "What the hell! It's one of the guards, but she's dead. Wait, I think
I've found something! Yes, it's a key chain with - a flashlight!"

The small LED flashlight gave out a weak blue-white glow that was not enough
to fill the room, but more than enough to tell Kent that the guard's throat
had been sliced open. He pulled to machine-pistol from her hand. she hadn't
managed to fire a single shot. Another explosion caused dust to rain down from
the drop ceiling above them. Kent turned off the flashlight to save the
battery and discovered that several emergency lamps had come on, though was a
greatly reduced output. suddenly, he realized they were not alone.

As Kent tried to stand up he felt Kim push him across the room to the other
wall. In the dim light she watched as she spun to attack the three black-clad
women who had silently appeared. All of the women acted with the speed and
strength of having enhanced muscles. At first it looked as if Kim was in over
her head, the three women were hitting her so hard that Kent could feel the
vibrations through the floor. Then one of the women smashed Kim in the chest
with a punch that made her stagger back three steps.

For a moment Kim stood still, her muscles seemed to spasm in pain. Only Kent
noticed that her muscles were actually growing larger, more defined, more
powerful. In a movement too fast for him to follow, Kim launched herself at
the three women, a blur of muscular power. Moments later their crushed and
lifeless bodies had joined the dead guard. Kim looked down at Kent and
growled, "Only you may tough me there!"

Kent caught a flicker of movement as three more assassins moved to attack Kim
from behind. He could not miss at such close range. Seconds later each of the
new attackers lay on the ground with a small hole in the center of the
foreheads. "A silencer? Cool! I always wanted a gun with a silencer. We better
check the bodies for gear, that's the first rule of RTS games. Wait a minute!
These are your people. How the hell did they get down here? Was there a mass
assault on the school? No. I'm betting these ladies came in some kind of
secret side-entrance. I'm sure happy that you decided to change sides!"

Kim had found a black-leather body-suit which fit her and had taken it for
herself. A katana and several other bladed weapons were added to her uniform.
She tore a long strip of cloth form the red shirt and wore it as a head-band.
"I had forgotten how well you handled yourself with a firearm. Try not to
shoot me! However, you are incorrect in one matter. I did not CHANGE sides as
you think that I did. I have joined a NEW side." Kim Ryun Hui stepped close to
him and purred, "YOUR side!"

In the dim light they quickly searched the storage cabinets that had been
tossed about by the first shock wave. Kent found several clips of ammo for his
new pistol and a working gun fight that also fit the pistol. Kim found a black
shirt which replaced Kent's white tee-shirt and cooler filled with drinks and
sandwiches.

Kent and Kim found their way to the council chamber, only to find a hidden
stairwell had opened up in the center of the chamber. The scene below was one
of a desperate defense overcome by numbers. The outer chamber looked like a
slaughter house with over fifty bodies piled deep in front of a large metal
door. The defenders had tried to stop the assault as they forced the door
closed but had been too late. From the other side of the door way they could
hear shouted commands.

Kim pulled out her katana and whispered, "Figure out how to close this door
while I clean house!"

In a flash she had leaped through the door way and into combat. As Kent traced
the controls he could hear the sound of harsh muscular fighting. After a
moment Kim stepped back out, "I've never seen these women before, they are
poorly trained and weak! They might have been good enough to deal with
Goldbrier girls, but they were no match for a real warrior!"

"I've got to remember that pose! OK Kim, back inside, I've repaired the
controls." Kent rushed into the inner chamber. The room was much larger than
he expected and was centered around a seven-foot-tall statue of a woman
carrying a round shield and a spear. In front of her was a strange curved
sword sitting on a display stand. Scattered around the room were other ancient
weapons on stands and red clay tablets. On the floor were six dead assassins.
Kent rerouted power to the door and closed and locked the three-foot-thick
metal slab. He started to walk towards the statue when something slammed into
the door. Chunks of ceiling and wall fell as the blows continued, each more
powerful than the last. Kent looked in horror as the massive door began to
deform and buckle.

The pounding stopped as something grabbed the edges of the door and began to
slowly pull the poor open. From the opening Kent could hear a woman screaming
with rage. Moments later the door was open enough for the woman to walk in.
She was tall, dark-skinned and supple. She reminded Kent of a Pakistani girl
he had once dates many years ago. Only Yasmeen had been much shorter and did
not look as if she had the combined muscle mass of ten female body-builders.
Kim leaped towards her and slashed out with the katana. The blade shattered
into a dozen pieces as it hit the woman. With an almost casual contempt the
dark-skinned woman grabbed Kim and tossed her against the back wall. Her
crushed body slid to the ground and was still.

Kent whipped up the two machine pistols he had recovered and emptied both. The
woman ignored the spray of bullets and slowly walked towards him. "You must be
is a special position," she said with a evil-sexy laugh, "The only man in the
complex. Tell me, are you the guard or the treasure?" For a moment she
relaxed, her body shrank down. She now looked an athletic dancer.

"Who are you?" Kent screamed.

The woman laughed, "Do you not recognize me mortal? I am death incarnate! I am
Kali! Prepare to die!"

"Kali? But in all of the pictures and statues you have many arms. Or can you
change your shape?" Kent gasped.

"Those mortals who encountered me were unprepared to accept my true physical
strength, so they began to picture me as having many normal arms. Over the
centuries that crude description has tormented me." Kali answered.

Kent thought for a moment. "I know you don't owe me," he stammered, "But
before you kill me would you do one thing for me. You see, I‘m one of those
guys who is -cursed - by a lust for strong muscular women. I can't help
myself, look where's it's gotten me!"

Kali stepped closer, "Yes, I can feel your desire growing within you. A
foolish design for - my - muscles? This is a new amusement and I has lived so
many years without entertainment. Your fate remains the same. I will kill you!
Now, quickly, explain yourself!"

"There is a pose, called the Most Muscular Pose, that very few women can pull
off. If you do this for me then I will die as the only man to ever see this
pose performed properly by a woman with REAL muscular power!"

"Yes, I see this pose in your mind! Because it amuses me, I shall grant your
request. And then you will die!"

Kali closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She pulled her arms back,
growled like a hungry lion and flexed every muscle she commanded. Her body
instantly doubled - tripled in size, each muscle fought to rise above the
other. Each muscle was perfect in shape as it was gigantic in size. The
explosion of power and strength from the ancient goddess of destruction cause
a wash of heat which, among other things, made Kent break out in a sweat. For
a full minuet Kali held the pose, her inhuman strength on display for his eyes
only. Without a warning Kent spun around - grabbed the strange sword from the
display stand - and cleanly sliced off Kali's head.

Before the head had made it half way to the floor there was a massive
explosion of darkness and screams which tossed Kent across the chamber and
hard against the back wall. He remained motionless for several minutes, passed
out from the pain.

Slowly Kent realized that someone was standing over him. Forcing his eyes
open, Kent could make out the face of a smiling woman. "Kim! I'm glad you're
OK. I'm - sorry - but I can feel a bunch of broken stuff inside me. It's a
good thing they had a magic sword!" As the woman drew closer he realized that
she was much taller than Kim and was wearing what looked like Greek-inspired
armor.

The woman bent over and placed her hand on his chest. Within moment he felt
his head clear and his pains wash away. Her smile was a golden light that
filled him with peace, "I have been called many names, but some have called me
Athena. You have defended my daughters with both bravery and cunning. Know
this mortal, you have both my thanks and my attention." She stood up, turned
and pointed at Kim's body, "This one rests on the edge of this world! She has
fought for the enemy, perhaps one of their best warriors who has killed
hundreds with her bare hands. You have but to speak the word and she will
receive her eternal punishment!"

"No!" gasped Kent as he struggled to stand, "If it wasn't for me she wouldn't
be - dead. I know I messed with her mind, but she didn't have to fight the
others. Without her help I wouldn't have lasted five minutes. Please, if
there's anything you can do!" Kevin staggered over to Kim's body and the long
black hair away from her eyes. "I know what it's like to lose everything."

Kent did not see Athena smile or the glow from her spear as she pointed it at
Kim.

The lights flickered and grew brighter. Kent heard shocks gasps behind him as
over a dozen senior-class students rushed into the inner sanctuary. he looked
up to see that while they were still in their standard school uniform, all
were armed with machine-pistols and shotguns. They stared at Kent and at the
headless body of Kali. "Mr. Larson? Are you OK? There are bodies everywhere!
Is that one of the cult leaders? We can't find any faculty! What should we
do?"

Kent looked down at Kim's motionless body, "We need to sweep the area, first
priority is getting medical aid to the wounded. If we have prisoners, lock
them up but make sure they're drugged into a deep sleep. I'm betting that
there's some kind of emergency plans, find them! But don't come running back
to me, I'm just a hired hand! I don't even know what to do with these -
bodies." Kent broke down, his tears falling onto Kim's unprotected face. He
heard most of the girls leave to follow his orders, but four remained to
secure the chamber, and provide Kent an honor guard.

Over an hour as passed. Kent heard an increasing number of students along with
some of the adult staff working to remove all signs of the battle. Even Kali
large body had been removed and the sword cleaned and replaced on the stand.
Kent looked up as the sound of footsteps neared him, "This is a most dreadful
business," said an older woman, her face gray with age, "Mind you, we had no
idea that the Black Flag cult was connected to the evil Kali and that she
would focus so much of the cult's resources on this attack. They cut down our
primary defense force and would have succeeded in their quest except for your
remarkable actions. Really, Mr. Larson! Turning their deadliest assassin into
your personal sex slave and bodyguard? And then you killed the unkillable
monster, Kali!"

"Unkillable? Then it's a good thing you guys had that enchanted sword handy!"

The gray woman turned and walked up to the sword, "This is the sword? You
killed Kali with this sword? Really? This might interest you Mr. Larson. This
sword is a replica which was constructed for us in - let me see - 1947. It was
a gift given to our New York facility and transferred here after that campus
was destroyed. If is far from being magical or enchanted. It is, in fact, from
New Jersey!"

Kent looked down, "I guess I got really lucky!"

Suddenly Kim's body was moved by a powerful convulsion, her head swung forward
making her long black hair whip around to sting Kent's face. Before he could
react he heard her gasp for air, her powerful arms shot out to pull him
towards her. Kim looked up at him and whispered, "Yes! You got very lucky! But
not even a death goddess is going to keep me from you!" He could feel her go
limp in his arms, alive but very injured. The gray woman called out for a
medical team to take Kim for treatment.

The gray women turned to face Kent, "I regret to inform you that Miss Ludmilla
Kuntz was killed during the attack. The Board of Regents has declared that a
temporary director must be appointed at once. Unfortunatly all of our
administrative staff and nearly half of our teaching faculty were also lost.
All remaining staff members have assigned duties which can not be neglected.
Thankfully we have found an individual who has earned our trust and support."
She stepped close and thrust out her hand, "Congratulations!"

Kent reached out and took her hand and was too stunned to notice the hidden
power in her grip.

"Now then! You have a great deal to do and very little time." The gray woman
released Kent's hand and stepped back. "Normally an assistant would be
assigned from school staff, but we are too short-handed. We feel that your
recent recruit, Miss Hui, would be acceptable after she completes a brief
training period. This means that for the first few weeks she will be
unavailable during the morning hours."

"How long is the temporary position?" Kent managed to stammer, "And isn't this
a position for a woman?"

The gray woman walked up to the large gold statue and looked up, "The duration
of this assignment depends on several factors which are out of our hands. It
took nearly a year to find Miss Kuntz. However, once we have you cleaned up,"
she turned to face him, "expect to be presented as a positive male role-model
to both students and parents. But be warned! Dealing with a seven-foot-tall
death goddess is child's play when compared to dealing with nearly a thousand
female students! I wish you the best of luck!"

After the gray woman had left Kent noticed that the four remaining student
guards were straining to look both fearsome and female at the same time. As he
started to walk out of the inner chamber he was hit by a flying button. "I'm
so sorry Director Larson!" shouted a well-developed red-head, "I didn't know
my own - strength! If you want I'll report to Punishment Detail!" Kent simply
smiled and waved as he retreated into the upper levels.

It took nearly a month for Kent to come up to speed, and he still thought that
everyone was picking up the slack. He was glad to have Kim help him in the
afternoons, as a former cult leader she was more comfortable with
administrative tasks than he was. The only problem was that every time she
walked into the office wearing her school uniform it took him over twenty
minutes to recapture his focus. She was doing well in her studies and becoming
stronger and if possible harder with each passing week. There had been some
incidents due to the fact that she was once the sworn enemy of Goldbrier, but
once everyone saw how she acted around Kent she was quickly named the
Director's Assassin.

Normally a Director dealt with all issues within the above-ground campus and
was not aware of the existence of the inner sanctuary chamber, but since Kent
had defended the chamber he was allowed full access. Without realizing it, he
began to keep a regular schedule where he spent time the chamber by himself.
"So Athena," he said softly, "Is this what you were talking about? All I can
say is thank you for saving Kim! Without her I'd be going mad by now. Oh sure,
I'm surrounded by nearly a thousand muscular women all quite happy pump my
brains out, but because of my position I feel bad if I watch one walk across
the yard. But if this is a test then I'm failing! I can't keep thinking about
the TONS of female muscle surrounding me! Sorry, I guess I bitch too much. I'm
sorry."

"No, do not feel sorrow," came a low husky voice behind him. Kent turned to
find Athena was flesh once more and was removing her helm and armor, "I know
your every thought dear Kent. My daughters tempt you, but you are strong! In a
short time your permanent replacement will be ready and you will be able to
return to a position with more - opportunities." Athena continued to remove
the rest of her armor until she stood totally naked in front of Kent.

"Ah, Athena, what are you doing?" he whispered.

"This is a very difficult thing to do and I am told that very few mortal women
are able to perform it. As you have earned my favor I will grant your request
to see this done properly. Only because I am a goddess can I do this Must
Muscular Pose!"

Kent dropped to his knees in shock as Athena's golden muscles exploded in
front of him like a super nova.

Continued?